Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Historically, Who Was Jesus?

There is no doubt that Jesus was born, existed, died on the
cross and rose again, from the dead.The
historical facts verify these things. The only question the skeptic has left is who
was He, in comparison to who He and others said He was.

Jesus' resurrection seems to be the major sticking
point. The following are the facts -

1. The tomb was found to be
empty.

2. The belief of the
disciples, that He appeared to them after His death and who then went around
telling the people about Him.Presently,
two and a halfbillion people claim to
be Christian.

3. He was pronounced dead, by
a Roman soldier, to Pilot. He would not have lied to Pilot, the head Roman
leader, to whom he was subject.

4. The first few reports of
His resurrection were not believed by His disciples.When they saw Him they believed.

5. Over 500 witnesses saw Him
alive, throughout a 40 day period of time.Most of these witnesses were still alive when it was written, in the
Gospels, that they saw Him.

What historical writings, other than the Bible, told
about Jesus?

1. Flavius
Josephus: Josephus wrote “Antiquities of the Jews” in about
94AD. In it he mentions Jesus twice.

2. In his Annals, Cornelius Tacitus (55-120 CE) writes that Christians "derived
their name and origin from Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius, had suffered
death by the sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate" (Annals 15.44)

3. In his The Lives of
the Caesars, Suetonius, writing
around 120 CE, states: "Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the
instigation of Chrestus [Emperor Claudius in 49 CE] expelled them from Rome." (Claudius
5.25.4)

4. In a lost work referred to by Julius Africanus in the third century,
the pagan writer Thallus reportedly claimed that Jesus' death was accompanied
by an earthquake and darkness.

5. Pliny the Younger,
writing near 100 CE, corresponded regularly with the emperor Trajan. In these
writings, Pliny specifically mentions and describes the beliefs and practices
of Christians in Asia Minor, and asks Trajan's
advice about what action to take against them, if any. However, Pliny's
writings provide no independent confirmation of the events of the New
Testament, but merely show that there were indeed Christians living in Asia Minor.

6. There are only a few
clear references to Jesus in the Babylonian Talmud, a collection of Jewish
rabbinical writings compiled between approximately A.D. 70-500.

7. In
c170 Lucian wrote a satire on
a Greek philosopher in which the philosopher spent some time with Christians.
In the course of this, Jesus is mentioned.

8. Celsus was
a philosopher who wrote a treatise against Christianity (c180AD) in which he
mentions Jesus.

9. Thallus:
Wrote a history in the mid first century AD which mentions the darkness at
Jesus’ crucifixion. The work is lost but was quoted by the second century
Julius Africanus.

10.Phlegon:
Wrote an astronomical treatise which mentions the darkness at Jesus’
crucifixion.

11. Clement
of Rome: In 96AD Clement wrote a letter to the church in Corinth. In this he
mentions Jesus and alludes to the New Testament.

12.Ignatius of Antioch:
Wrote a series of letters as he was taken to Rome to be killed for his faith in 117AD. He
mentions Jesus and quotes from the New Testament.

13. Polycarp: Polycarp wrote a letter
at the start of the second century AD in which he mentions Jesus and quotes
from the New Testament.

14. The Didache: This is a work of
uncertain date but probably from the first century AD. It mentions Jesus and
quotes from the New Testament.

These are so close to the time of Jesus that to ignore
them would be an example of complete bigotry.

"The
wealth of these sayings is evidence that Jesus was a historical figure. From
only the non-Christian sources we can find out:-

1. when Jesus lived,
where he was born and brought up,

2. where he carried out
his teaching,

3. that he had influence
as a teacher,

4. that he performed
actions considered to be miraculous,

5. that he was executed,

6. that people claimed to
have seen him alive afterwards,

7. that he was widely
described as “Christ”

8. that he had a brother
called James"(http://www.biblethink.org.uk/page26.html)

"Most modern
scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed, but scholars differ on the
historicity of specific episodes described in the Biblical accounts, and the
only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus
was baptized by John the Baptist and was crucified by the order
of the Roman PrefectPontius Pilate.
There is a significant debate about his nature, his actions and his sayings,
but most scholars agree that Jesus was a GalileanJew who was born between
7-4 BC and died 30–36 AD, that he lived in Galilee and Judea and did not preach
or study elsewhere, and that he spoke Aramaic
and perhaps also Hebrew and Greek.

Scholars
attribute varying levels of certainty to other episodes. E.P. Sanders
and Craig A. Evans
independently state that there are two other incidents in the life of Jesus
that can be considered historical: that Jesus called disciples,
and that he caused a controversy at the Temple. This extended view
assumes that there are eight elements about Jesus and his followers that can be
viewed as historical facts—four episodes in the life of Jesus and four about
him and his followers, namely:

Jesus was
baptized by John the Baptist. He called disciples. He had a
controversy at the Temple.
Jesus was crucified by the Romans near Jerusalem.

Jesus was a Galilean.
His activities were confined to Galilee and Judea.
After his death his disciples continued. Some of his disciples were persecuted
."(Wikipedia)

We can see that Jesus was an actual historical figure.He, His disciples and many others said that He
was the Messiah.He said He was the Son
of God. He admitted to being the Christ
of God. He said He was born to be a king
- not of this world.He said He was the
Way, the Truth and the Life.He said the
only way to the Father was through Him.He said the only way to Heaven is through Him.He also said: If you deny me before men, I
will deny you before My Father.

The foundation of the Christian
experience is not the fact that Jesus lived here as a man on earth.Jesus always was, is now and will be
forever.The foundation of Christianity
is that He, who lives forever, for a short time, came to be with us, in the
flesh, to establish the personal relationship with us that He intended to have
when He created the heavens and the earth.

Now we can see that the question is not who Jesus was; that
is well established.The most important
question now is, who is Jesus in your life?

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